It is becoming more common to use various kinds of non-contact measurement equipment such as infrared cameras or pyrometers in order to measure the absolute temperatures or temperature differences on objects. The advantages of using an infrared camera are many. One of the most obvious is that the user will get a quick and complete temperature measurement of an object, and that the user could cover a more extensive area than is possible for most of the other means of measurement, like non-contact pyrometers or direct contact temperature devices such as platinum resistance thermometers, thermocouples or thermistors. For example, a user of a pyrometer will have to point the aperture of the pyrometer in lots of different directions trying to cover the area of interest; or if direct contact temperature devices are used, place them at specific points. Although many of these methods in certain situations have advantages over the use of infrared cameras, the risk of leaving an essential part undetected could never be completely avoided.
Infrared cameras are used today in a plurality of applications. An example is monitoring and controlling various technical systems, where the infrared cameras can help in detecting overheated system components like reactors, fans, valves, dynamos, transformers or other essential parts. The detection could also concern situations where frozen components or parts could lead to a risk of malfunction. Since significant information about the condition of a technical system can be given by measuring the temperatures, the use of infrared cameras is an easy and reliable way of identifying problems before a failure occurs due to stress in such a system.
Infrared cameras in related art typically utilise predefined parameterised functions implemented at a plurality of platforms. Examples of such platforms could be the infrared cameras themselves or other programmable devices related to the cameras like the software of a computer. The radiation captured and stored by the infrared camera is used together with these predefined functions to perform e.g. a temperature measurement or alarm analysis of the captured infrared radiation. An example of such a measuring function is the use of programmable coefficients or parameters accounting for the emissivity and reflectivity of the material of an object necessary for reliable temperature measurements of the object. An example of an alarm function could be one that triggers an alarm when at least one pixel value exceeds a defined temperature threshold value of the image. This could either activate a small internal alarm to alert the camera operator, or be used as a stationary monitoring device sending the alarm signal to a major warning system which comprises of light and sound sirens, for example in industries handling explosive chemicals. Other examples of predefined functions are readouts of maximum, minimum or average temperature values in an image, or readings concerning the temperature of particular spots or especially interesting areas. Isotherms (regions of an image having the same temperature) could also be emphasized by highlighting those regions with some sort of indication (e.g. colour, line); furthermore, the information in each pixel could be retrieved and used in analysis by standard programs.
A problem in having to implement these parameterised functions in advance arises when new or more advanced functions are needed or asked for by customers. The functionality of these predefined functions is fixed and realizing new or updated versions in order to change the functionality is both inefficient and cumbersome, since they must be implemented in advance at each of the platforms. In related art such an update is often related to a product release, in which case a user may have to wait for a long period of time. If the requirements change during the time period, the update may even be obsolete when it is released. The requirements may also differ between customers, in which case the customer might have to reduce his or her desires. This inherent lack of flexibility urges the need of a more adaptable concept.